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Give All Your Students the Chance to Own a Piece of Land in Israel to Better Understand and Fulfill the Mitzvah of Shmitta

What:This sabbatical year of Shmitta enhance your Tu B’shvat educational program by allowing your students to better understand the mitzvah of shmitta – have them become owners of a piece of land in Israel to fulfill the mitzvah as well!

The mitzvah of Shmitta is one that few have the privilege of fulfilling. The opportunity provides itself only once in 7 years and only those who own land according to the Torah’s specifications can fulfill it. Rabbis throughout the generations have longed for the opportunity to fulfill this mitzvah, even when they lived outside of the land of Israel.

The 12Tribe Films Foundation – www.12tribefilms.org – together with the Shomrei Shviit organization – www.shviit.com – bring this special program to Jewish educational institutions worldwide for this very unique Tu B’shvat.

How: Shomrei Shvi’it offers each Jew the opportunity to fulfill the mitzvah of shmitta by buying a piece of agricultural land located in an apricot field near Zichron Yaakov (Section 11326, parcel 29 – as registered in the Tabu by the Israeli government). Each person is given an opportunity to purchase a piece of land that is the area of at least 4 square amos (4.429 square feet) that will be totally owned by the buyer according to both Halacha, Jewish law, and Israeli law.

Each student pays only $7 to own a piece of land in Israel. Your school will be given a piece of land whose size will be dependant upon the number of students who pay the $7. The school will receive the legal documents attesting to the ownership of the piece of land and each student will receive a personalized certificate from Shomrei Shviit authorizing their ownership.

The students fulfill the mitzvah of Shmitta since the apricot fields are laying fallow until the end of the Shmitta year and all who desire may enter the fields and take from the produce which have the sanctity of Shvi’it.

Why: Like Shabbat, Shmitta is a means for connecting everything back to its source. As we grow farther in time from the point of creation, we need Shmitta to bring us home. Just when creation seems a faded memory and we feel that mankind runs the world and that our brilliance has brought us whatever bounty humankind has achieved, Shmitta brings a Shabbat to the land that changes everything.

According to Jewish law, fruits that grow during the special year in the land of Israel are public domain, and anyone, rich or poor can eat them. We are reminded that any personal property we have is nothing more than a Divine loan. Classic laws of property that give us comfort and delude us into thinking we run the world are suspended as debts are forgiven, and on the yovel following the culmination of seven shmitta cycles, land sales revert and property goes back to its tribal apportionment from the time Jews entered the land of Israel. Shmitta gives us the opportunity to melt away the distance between ourselves and creation, and to give the land back to God, thereby returning it to its source.

Teach your students these important lessons by giving them the ability to fulfill the mitzvah of Shmitta this Tu B’shvat by owning their own piece of land in Israel this Shmitta year. This program allows educational institutions worldwide to make the mitzvah of Shmitta much more tangible and appreciated by their students.

***Any individual who wants to purchase his own piece of land can do so as well for the special price of $170***

For additional information about having your school take part in this special Tu B’svhat program or inquiries about purchasing your own personal piece of land to fulfill the mitzva of Shmitta please send an email to avi@12tribefilms.org

Stay tuned for other 12Tribe Films Foundation special cultural programs for your educational institutions – Including: Israel’s 60th Birthday, Yom Yerushalayim events, Connecting with the people of Sderot and connecting with the former residents of Gush Katif.

ABOUT 12TRIBE FILMS FOUNDATION:12Tribe Films Foundation (“12Tribe Films”) is a “For Impact” not-for-profit organization dedicated to promoting creative projects about the Jewish people and the land of Israel that connect, entertain, and inspire.While the projects of 12Tribe Films address religious, political, sociological, and current events effecting Israel and the Jewish people, our goal is to be an informative and educational resource that focuses on the underlying Jewish values and human experiences beneath the issues.